Thursday, October 22, 2009

Good times, my friends. Good times.

Well, yesterday's appintment was....something. The base plate for my permanent bridge was done (yay!!!), but was in 4 seaparate pieces. This is because they cannot make something that is just shaped like the curve of my lower teeth- it has to fit over each implant post exactly so or else the implants could break later on from the pressure of chewing and such. Two of the implants are angled, and two are straight up and down in the bone. So what he needed to do was take off this bridge of teeth, screw each of those 4 parts into each of my 4 implants, and then when they were all aligned and screwed in exactly perfect, kinda melt them together temporarily so it would be the exact shape it needs to be for the lab to go ahead and solder it all into one final, perfectly custom made piece. Got that?

Ahh, if only it was so easy! First, the temporary teeth are really hard to get off. I swear I hear the poor dr muttering under his breath and swearing to high heaven every time he has to take them off; he probably hates me by now. He had to pick pick pick, twist each implant screw and shake them all around until finally they released and came out. That is a ton of strain on my jaw, as I am not used to having my mouth open extremely wide for long periods of time (no jokes, please) and having all that pressure on it was insanely uncomfortable.

Then there is the tension I feel as soon as I sit in that dental chair. Something just comes over me... I start to shake and get really anxious. Like I have said before, it does not get any easier having procedure after procedure done in your mouth, in fact, it gets worse because after all you have been through you just do NOT want anyone touching in your mouth ever ever again. Sooo...once the teeth were off I get that oh so uncomfortable frightened feeling. Well instantly I tasted blood and cant figure out why. The dr looks concerned so I start to freak out. I can feel a bubble or something under my tongue coming from the floor of my mouth...he said it looked like the tissue was rising up under the temporary bridge and was irritated and inflamed. It was bleeding, and he said that he needed to take it off. Um, what?

At this point my anxiety level is through the roof. They then say they need to cut it off with this thing that will cauterize the vessels so it doesnt bleed everywhere. Nice. SO they poke me with needles to numb me up, which tastes awful, and then they make me sit on this thing (all the while I am hysterical, crying and shaking, I just could NOT control myself) that looks like a black pad with a cord coming out of it that was attached to this thing that looked like a long pair of tweezers which I knew were going to cut off part of the floor of my mouth. I joked "are you going to electrocute me now?" but the truth is I was only half joking! I swear nothing would surprise me anymore after what I have been through.

So, I am really upset and scared and I could tell my dr was getting upset with me, which only made me MORE upset and scared because I wanted him to know I was trying hard to compose myself but was insanely afraid of what was going to happen. There was also the fear in my mind "what if they cut this thing and stuff comes out of it, like an infection?" But anyway, they lopped it off and cauterized it, all this smoke was coming out and it smelled just awful. I now know what a burning body smells like, blech. Disgusting. And awful. It turned out to just be excess tissue build up after all of that mess.

So then after the bubble was gone he was able to fit the little metal pieces of the base onto each implant, screw them on and then he used this stuff paired up with what looked like a UV ray thing to I think oh so gently attach each piece together so he could get the exact shape of the floor of my mouth and implants. Then he let it sit, and then had to unscrew it and gently lift it out. This will be sent to the lab for them to solder together permanently. All the while my mouth is tasting like blood and crap, there is slobber everywhere because of the numbing solution and I was just DONE. So he got the temporary teeth back on and told me to come back in Monday for the next step. Honestly, I was pretty out of it, mostly from how I exhausted myself crying and getting all worked up, so I dont remember exactly what he said was next but I am only a couple of appointments away from getting my final bridge of teeth then hopefully will be done, at least for now or until something else comes up. Its crazy to think it is so close after 4 1/2 years of this!

So that is my disgusting story of excess tissue cuttage, cauterization and smelling of burning flesh for the day. Now please, DO go and enjoy your dinners, everyone. Hopefully my next post wont be as disgusting.

And Dr Wong, if you are reading this, you're still my favorite doctor even though when you asked me if I was still mad at you I turned my head and refused to look at you like a 3 year old would. I am sorry I was such a baby. No hard feelings, huh? :)

5 comments:

Good Job Tina!You are almost at the finish line.You have brought back alot of memories that I didn't write down but experienced with my bridge.Yes the temporary teeth were hard to get off. Kinda reminded me of a THREE STOOGES EPISODE!Keep the faith!Madelyn

Also Dr. Wong, if you read this, you may consider offering the poor girl a mild tranquilizer next time. Great job, Tina. Of course you can do it, but is it necessary to go through all that very, very understandable anxiety, when medication is available to help?Just wondering. I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but I just feel for you, you've been through so much. Best wishes.

Hi I came here by accident and wanted to tell you how beautiful you are. After reading your post about feeling strange looking, I was surprised to find photos of a perfectly gorgeous young girlie. You rock, and are strong, and Happy Thanksgiving!!